The boy casts about and then meets the old man's gaze anew. "I have never used the staff. I have no idea what is needed. What if the magic won't come for me?"

His mentor smiles. "I once wondered the same thing. What if I cannot wield the magic? What if I lack the strength and skill? The magic will come when you summon it. You have only to think on it. But your success while using the magic is a different matter. It will be measured by your strength of heart."

The boy is miserable. He wants his mentor to be well again and to teach him what he still needs to know. He wants the rogue Elf never to have appeared. He wants things back the way they were.

"Take the staff from me," the old man says once more.

A moment later he is dead.

The boy stares down at him for a very long time, waiting for him to move, even knowing that he won't. His mind is muddied by his confusion. He will have to travel to the Elves and tell them what has happened. They have already lost their King. Now they have lost their bearer of the black staff. But Men have lost theirs, as well. Unless he does what the old man has asked of him.

Unless he takes up the staff.

It occurs to him then, in a flash of insight that rocks him with its implications, that if he takes up the staff and accepts the terrible responsibility it demands, he will one day be asking another to do the same.

Is this something he can face? Is it something he can bear?

He looks down at the black staff, still gripped in the old man's hand, and for a very long time he does not move.

BEARERS OF THE BLACK STAFF.

ends here. The story concludes in.

THE MEASURE OF THE MAGIC.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

TERRY BROOKS is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the Genesis of Shannara novels Armageddon's Children, The Elves of Cintra, and The Gypsy Morph; The Sword of Shannara; the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy: Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr; the High Druid of Shannara trilogy: Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, and Straken; the nonfiction book Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life; and the novel based upon the screenplay and story by George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were selected by the Rocky Mountain News as two of the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the twentieth century. The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest.

www.shannara.com.

www.terrybrooks.net.

Bearers of the Black Staff is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fict.i.tiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2010 by Terry Brooks.

BY TERRY BROOKS.

SHANNARA.

First King of Shannara.

The Sword of Shannara.

The Elfstones of Shannara.

The Wishsong of Shannara.

THE HERITAGE OF SHANNARA.

The Scions of Shannara.

The Druid of Shannara.

The Elf Queen of Shannara

The Talismans of Shannara

THE VOYAGE OF THE JERLE SHANNARA.

Ilse Witch

Antrax

Morgawr.

HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA.

Jarka Ruus.

Tanequil

Straken

GENESIS OF SHANNARA.

Armageddon's Children.

The Elves of Cintra

The Gypsy Morph.

Legends of Shannara

Bearers of the Black Staff

The World of Shannara.

THE MAGIC KINGDOM OF LANDOVER.

Magic Kingdom for Sale-Sold!.

The Black Unicorn

Wizard at Large

The Tangle Box

Witches' Brew.